Technology and applications of protein microarrays

摘要

Essentially completed in 2001 the human genome project yields the rather surprising result that roughly 30,000 genes are responsible for the astonishing complexity and diversity of humans. Although a milestone of its own the detailed mapping of the entire set of human genes represents only the beginning of a larger challenge—the functional analysis of respective genes or proteins expressed from the specific sequence of DNA or RNA. Besides characterization methods such as mass spectrometry, microarray-based techniques are emerging tools for reading the vast protein libraries, because they are capable of large-scale and high-throughput biological analysis. Following the principles of DNA microarray technology they will enable rapid and economic unraveling of the function of every encoded gene and protein in an organism and investigation of the basic cellular events mediating complex processes and those causing diseases. Even though these so-called protein biochips have already found applications in protein expression profiling, drug discovery, and clinical diagnostics, their true potential has yet to be fully realized.